Now came the most important epoch in Mr. Witt's life. After a hard struggle the scheme for the construction of a railroad between Cleveland and Columbus assumed definite shape, a company was organized and was prepared to go to work when contractors should be found who would build the road with a little money and a good deal of faith. Mr. Witt's opportunity had come. At the end of a four days' toilsome journey from Buffalo in a cab, he reached Cleveland, and satisfactory arrangements were finally entered into. A firm was formed, under the name of Harbach, Stone & Witt, and the work commenced. The story of the building of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad has already been told in another part of this volume; it is a story of hoping almost against hope, of desperate struggles against opposition and indifference, and of final triumph. Mr. Witt's part in the struggle was an important one, and the solid benefit resulting from the success that crowned the enterprise was well deserved by him. Before the work of construction was half completed, Mr. Harbach died, and the firm remained Stone & Witt, under which name it has become familiar to all parts of the American railroad world. The road was opened between Cleveland and Columbus in 1851, and the success that speedily followed the opening, demonstrated the wisdom of the projectors of the line, and justified the faith of its contractors. The three years of construction had not terminated before Messrs. Stone & Witt undertook the construction of the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad, and in two years this road, now one of the richest and most powerful lines of the country, was completed. This was followed, sometime after, by the building of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, which required but one year to construct, although built in the best manner. With the completion of the Chicago and Milwaukee road Mr. Witt's active career as a railroad builder ceased. Since that time he has been chiefly employed in the management of his extensive railroad and banking interests, having been at different periods a director in the Michigan Southern; Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati; Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula; Cleveland and Pittsburgh; Chicago and Milwaukee, and Bellefontaine and Indiana railroads, besides being vice-president of two of these roads and president of one of them. His connection with the Bellefontaine and Indiana Railroad is noticeable from the fact that it was by his sagacity and unwearied energy, ably assisted by the late Governor Brough, as general manager, that the company was raised from absolute insolvency to a high rank among dividend paying lines. Mr. Witt had gone into the undertaking with a number of other Clevelanders, had all but lost his entire investment, but had never lost faith in the ultimate success of the line, or flagged for an instant in his efforts to bring about that success. The event proved the justness of his conclusions.